2022 Spring Meeting and 18th Global Congress on Process Safety Proceedings
(45a) The Application of Cognitive Psychology to Decision Making during Critical Events
Authors
Borders, J. - Presenter, Shadow Box Training
Besuijen, R., Nova Chemicals Ltd.
Klein, G., Shadow Box Training
Process safety requires many layers of protection to stop the sequences of events that lead to major disasters. One of these layers is the decision-making skills by operations personnel. Well trained operators can ask the right questions before the event begins or can detect and act to prevent the event from escalating.
Early event detection and decisive action are usually accomplished by experienced operators. Understanding how critical decisions are made when there are time constraints is an important first step. Research in the field of cognitive psychology is applicable to decision making for process operators.
Helping new operators to develop these skills without having to participate in an actual event is very advantageous. Training techniques have been developed that can capture the knowledge of experienced operators and accelerate the development of decision-making skills.
This paper will cover the types of knowledge that are used in decision making, how that knowledge is applied and techniques to enhance critical decision-making abilities.